Tantra Vidhya

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This contains two dissertations on (1) Understanding Archaic Astronomy and (2) Parmenides and the Tantric Yoga. Of these the first dissertation concerns with the understanding of Archaic Astronomy from the stand-point of a psychologist of perception, trained in Astronomy. The author deals with the Psychology of Perception and the seven Lotus-flowers of the Kundalini Yoga - Awalon (John Woodroffe), giving parallels in other traditions, while presenting a comparative study on its bearing, on Astronomy according to Ptolemy.

The second dissertation attempts to correlate Tantric Yoga (especially in reference to Kundalini Yoga) with the teaching of the Eleatic Parmenides, one of the earliest founders of Western Philosophy. While giving a description of the cosmological and philosophical doctrines of the Tantric Yoga, the author gives in his study a comparative estimate of both the systems by showing the empirical process of Kundalini Yoga vis-a-vis the doctrinal poem of Parmenides. The study throws new light on Parmenides and his doctrine clearing away the mist of misunderstanding in Western Philosophy.

OSCAR MARCEL HINZE (born 1951) author of the dissertation 'Studien zum Verstandnis der archaischen Astronomic' is at present working in a private 'Institut fur Phanomenologieund Ganzheitwissenschaft' which he has founded near Stuttgart. The present dissertation was first published as an article in Symbolon (a Jahrbuch fur Symbolforschung), Band V (SchwabeVerlag, Basel) in 1966.

V.M. BEDEKAR, who translated this dissertation into English from original German, worked as a Research Associate in the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poone (Maharashtra). He has also translated from original German the two volumes of The History of Indian Philosophy written by Prof. E. Frauwallner, and Sixty Upanisads by Paul Deussen.

It is a great pleasure for me that two of the most important essays out of the work Tantra Vidya (Theseus Verlag Zurich, l976) have now been translated into English and published in India. I am indebted to the spiritual tradition of India for a number of deep understandings concerning the true nature of man and world. In the years 1974, 1975 and i976 I had the opportunity to relate some of my discoveries in the field of Tantric science by delivering lectures in several Indian Universities and, in this way, to give back to my spiritual Fatherland a part of that Tantric knowledge which was lost for a long time.

In writing these lines, I remember my dialogue in January I973 with late Swami Pratyagatmananda Saraswati in his hermitage in Calcutta on astronomical aspects of Tantra Vidya. He, as well as reverend Dr. Gopinath Kaviraj, whom I had met some days before in Varanasi, encouraged me to render the German scripts into English. In this context an amazing event occurred in the same year when I entered the Publishing House Motilal Banarsidass in Delhi for the first time. An old gentleman was sitting in a corner of the office— as it turned out later, he was the then acting Director of Motilal Banarsidass, Mr. Sundarlal Jain—and gazed at me. "What did you write ?" he asked me. "How do you know that I wrote anything at all ‘?" I asked back. Mr. Jain did not answer my question but repeated 2 "What did you write ‘?" Then I showed him some of my papers. Short and to the point Mr. Jain said: “I will publish it".

Some years have passed since that time. Today Mr. N. P. Iain is continuing the work of his grandfather and I am grateful to him for accomplishing now the first publication of Tantra Vidya in India.

Great efforts have been undertaken by Professor V. M. Bedekar to perform an apt translation of the German original text. He finished this difficult task before he suddenly and very unexpectedly passed away towards the end of the last year.

Now, by going through the English manuscripts I feel that the point has been reached where we have to bring out the treatise just as it is in the present form. Surely the text does not represent an easy reading. But if the reader will actively collaborate with the author, he will, no doubt, gain full insight in this special topic.